Kitchen Conversion Cheat Sheet: Cups, Grams, Ounces

Introduction

Baking is chemistry, and measurement precision determines whether a recipe succeeds or fails. A cup of sifted flour and a cup of packed flour can differ by 40 grams — a 30% variance that collapses cakes and toughens bread. This cheat sheet gives you the numbers you need for the most common kitchen conversions, covering dry ingredients, liquids, butter, and oven temperatures. For ingredient-specific conversions, the recipe converter tool handles the full range.

Why Weight Beats Volume for Baking

Professional bakers use grams. Home cooks in the US use cups. This difference matters because volume measurements of dry ingredients are unreliable: how tightly the ingredient is packed, whether it was sifted, and even humidity all affect how much mass fits in a cup.

Flour example: - 1 cup sifted all-purpose flour: approximately 113g - 1 cup spooned and leveled flour: approximately 120–125g - 1 cup scooped directly from bag: approximately 140–150g

That is a 30% range for the "same" measurement. A recipe calling for 2 cups of flour could represent anywhere from 226g to 300g depending on technique.

If your recipe gives measurements in grams, use grams. If it gives cups, use the tables below — but use consistent technique (spoon into cup, level off) and your results will be repeatable.

US Volume Measurement Units

Before the conversion tables, a reference for the volume units themselves:

Note: The UK metric cup is 250 mL (not 236.6 mL). Australian recipes use a 250 mL cup. If a recipe originates in Australia, New Zealand, or the UK, check which cup size it assumes — the 5.8% difference can matter in baking.

Flour Conversions

These values use the standard US method: spoon flour into the measuring cup and level off with a straight edge.

All-Purpose Flour

Bread Flour

Bread flour is slightly denser than all-purpose:

Cake Flour

Cake flour is finer and lighter:

Whole Wheat Flour

Almond Flour

Sugar Conversions

Granulated White Sugar

Brown Sugar (packed)

Packed brown sugar is significantly denser than granulated:

Powdered (Icing) Sugar

Honey and Maple Syrup

Liquid sweeteners are much heavier than the equivalent volume of sugar:

Butter Conversions

Butter is one of the most commonly converted ingredients. In the US, butter comes in 4 oz (113g) sticks. Each stick is ½ cup = 8 tablespoons.

European butter is often sold in 250g blocks. Quick reference: - 250g butter ≈ 1 cup + 2 tablespoons (about 2.2 US sticks) - 200g butter ≈ 7 oz ≈ ¾ cup + 2.5 tablespoons

Liquid Conversions

Liquids are easier to convert by volume since density is close to water (1g/mL) for most common cooking liquids.

Water, Milk, Buttermilk, Cream

Whole milk has a density of about 1.03 g/mL — close enough to water that the gram and mL values are interchangeable for cooking. Cream has a density of about 1.01 g/mL. For baking purposes, treat 1 mL = 1g for all water-based liquids.

Oils

Vegetable oil, olive oil, and most cooking oils have a density of about 0.91–0.93 g/mL.

For most recipes: use 218g per cup for all cooking oils. The variation between oils is smaller than the measurement error in a home kitchen.

Common Small Measurements

Oven Temperature Conversions

Oven temperatures are one of the most consequential conversions in cooking — a 25°F error matters much less than a 50°F error.

Fan Oven (Convection) Adjustment

Fan ovens circulate air, making them more efficient. Reduce the temperature by 20°C (or 25°F) compared to a conventional oven setting, or reduce cooking time by about 10–15%.

If a recipe says 350°F (175°C) conventional, use 325°F (165°C) fan-forced.

Egg Size Equivalents

Recipes from different countries use different egg size standards. In the US, "large" is the default.

UK/EU large eggs (~58–68g) correspond roughly to US large to extra-large.

Quick Reference for Common Recipes

Standard Cake (2-layer 8-inch)

• 2¼ cups (280g) all-purpose flour
• 1½ cups (300g) granulated sugar
• 1 cup (227g) butter — 2 US sticks
• 1 cup (240 mL) milk
• Oven: 350°F (175°C)

Standard Bread (1 loaf)

• 3 cups (390g) bread flour
• 1½ teaspoons (9g) salt
• 1 cup (240 mL) water
• 2¼ teaspoons (7g) instant yeast
• Oven: 450°F (230°C) for first 20 minutes

Standard Cookie Batch (24 cookies)

• 2¼ cups (280g) all-purpose flour
• 1 cup (227g) butter — 2 sticks
• ¾ cup (165g) brown sugar, packed
• ¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar
• Oven: 375°F (190°C)

Notes on Recipe Sources

When using a recipe from a different country, check:

1. Cup size: US = 236.6 mL, AU/NZ/UK = 250 mL. A US recipe with 2 cups uses 473 mL; an AU recipe with 2 cups uses 500 mL — 5.7% more.

2. Tablespoon size: US tablespoon = 14.79 mL; Australian tablespoon = 20 mL. Australian recipes use 4 teaspoons per tablespoon, not 3.

3. "A stick of butter": Only US recipes use stick measurements. Outside the US, butter is always by weight.

4. Oven type: European recipes often assume fan-forced ovens. US recipes typically assume conventional ovens.

For converting full recipes between systems, use the recipe converter to handle ingredient-specific densities automatically.

Summary

The key conversions to keep on hand:

• Flour: 1 cup ≈ 125g (all-purpose, spooned and leveled)
• Sugar: 1 cup ≈ 200g (granulated)
• Butter: 1 stick = ½ cup = 113g
• Liquids: 1 cup ≈ 240 mL ≈ 240g
• Oven: 350°F = 175°C = Gas Mark 4 (standard baking temperature)
• Fan oven: subtract 20°C from the recipe temperature

Use weight measurements whenever precision matters. Volume is fine for liquids and rough estimates, but for flour, sugar, and other dry ingredients, a kitchen scale is the most reliable tool in the drawer.